The bells of the castle rang with sadness one day. The good Queen, who had hair like spun gold and a smile as warm as summer, had become very ill. Soon, she closed her eyes for the last time.

The King was heartbroken. "I will never marry again," he declared, "unless I find someone as beautiful as my dear Queen, with hair just like sunshine."

Years passed. The King looked and looked, but no one was quite like his lost Queen. Then, one day, he looked at his own daughter. She had grown up to be lovely, with hair exactly like her mother’s, shining like gold.

A strange and muddled thought came into the sad King's head. "She is the only one!" he thought. "I must marry my daughter!"

The Princess was very worried. This was not right at all! But she was clever. "Father," she said, "if I must, then first you must bring me three special dresses. One as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one that sparkles like all the stars in the sky." And she added, "And a cloak, made from a piece of fur from every kind of animal in your kingdom." She hoped he could never find such things.

But the King’s weavers and hunters were very skilled. Soon, the amazing dresses and the furry cloak, made of a thousand different furs all stitched together, were ready.

The Princess knew she had to run away. That night, she packed the three magical dresses into a nutshell (it was a very big nutshell!). She put on the heavy fur cloak, smudged her face and hands with soot from the fireplace so no one would know her, and slipped out of the castle.

She walked and walked until she came to a great forest. Tired and hungry, she curled up inside a hollow tree and fell asleep.

In this forest, another King was hunting. His huntsmen found the Princess, huddled and looking like a strange, furry creature in her cloak. "What are you?" they asked.
"I am Allerleirauh, Many-Furs," she whispered, "and I need a place to work."

They took her to their King’s castle. The cook gave her a tiny room under the stairs and made her help in the kitchen, plucking chickens and carrying wood. Everyone teased her and called her "Many-Furs."

One day, the King announced a grand ball. "Oh, please," Allerleirauh begged the cook, "may I just peek?"
The cook grumbled, "Alright, but be back quickly to clean the ashes!"

Allerleirauh ran to her little room, washed the soot from her face, and opened the nutshell. She put on the dress as golden as the sun. When she entered the ballroom, everyone gasped. The King himself danced with her all evening, thinking she was a mysterious foreign princess. But when the ball ended, she slipped away, back to her rags and soot. Before she left, she quickly dropped a tiny golden spinning wheel into the soup she had made for the King.

The next night, there was another ball. This time, Allerleirauh wore the dress as silvery as the moon. Again, the King danced only with her. And again, she vanished, leaving a tiny golden reel in his soup.

On the third night, for the final ball, she wore the dress that sparkled like the stars. The King was so charmed, he secretly slipped a tiny golden ring onto her finger as they danced. This time, when she fled, she dropped a tiny golden thimble into his soup. She was a little late getting back, and didn't have time to change out of the star dress completely, so she just threw the fur cloak over it.

The King was puzzled by the golden toys in his soup. "Who made this soup?" he demanded. The cook pointed to Allerleirauh.
The King called for her. "Where did these golden things come from?" he asked, looking at the sooty girl in her fur cloak.
"I know nothing about them," she said, but as she spoke, the tiny golden ring he had given her slipped from her sooty finger and rolled on the floor.

The King’s eyes widened. He picked up the ring. "This is the ring I gave the beautiful princess!" He looked closely at Allerleirauh. He saw a tiny bit of the sparkling star dress peeking out from under her fur cloak. "Take off that cloak!" he commanded gently.

She hesitated, then slowly pulled off the fur cloak. Her golden hair tumbled down. The star dress shone brightly. She wiped the soot from her face, and there stood the beautiful princess from the ball.

The King was overjoyed! He asked her to be his Queen.
And so, Allerleirauh, the girl once called Many-Furs, married the kind King. She brought out her sun, moon, and star dresses, and they lived happily, with no more hiding, ever after.

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